


The Knight Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

by unknowntrombone



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Assault, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-04
Updated: 2015-05-04
Packaged: 2018-03-28 23:26:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,278
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3873871
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/unknowntrombone/pseuds/unknowntrombone
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rumple tells a bedtime story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Knight Who Was Not Afraid of Anything

Rumple was on his way home from the market. A sack with bread and cabbage in one hand and his cane in the other. Even a short walk like this was tiring on a bad leg and an empty stomach. The rain dripped, dripped, dripped, from his long, untidy, hair, and soaked into his rags. Yet Rumple knew better than to curse the gods for this happenstance. There was no need to tempt fate and soggy bread was better than no bread at all.

The rain muffled the sounds of the men who were walking behind him. 

“Hey Spindleshanks!” Rumple heard a sing-song voice calling out from behind him. 

He turned his head and saw that some villagers were walking toward him, two local brutes named Raynor and Toly. Without thinking, he quickened his pace. They overtook him easily, passed him and then blocked his path.

“Trying to run away again are you coward?” Toly asked.

Rumple bowed his head and pulled his entire body inward, trying to look as small as possible.

“I need to get home,” he said to the ground, his voice barely above a whisper. “My son is waiting for me and he is hungry.”

“Oh we’ll get you home!” Raynor shoved him backward with enough force that he fell to the ground. Then they went for his sack of food and walking stick. He let go of the stick entirely so that he could hold the food tightly to his chest. They couldn’t take that away from him. His son had to eat. He looked up and saw that Toly now had the stick in both of his hands and was holding it aloft. Then he shut his eyes and curled his body inward, trying to protect his face and chest. Every blow that was dealt to his fragile body sent unbearable agony throughout him. Every blow sent him back to that awful night he was the one causing injury to himself. Every blow was a reminder of just what a failure he was. _Lame. Unworthy. Worthless. Pathetic. Piece. Of Shit._

_Coward._

**_Coward._ **

**_COWARD._ **

The beatings stopped at the sound of approaching hoofbeats. 

“What are you lads doing?” Rumple heard a man call out to his tormentors. He had the refined genteel lilt of Frontlands nobility. He opened his eyes and saw that it was a knight wearing a set of full plate armor that would take years of spinning for him to afford. 

“This dishonorable milksop injured himself to escape the front line of the Ogre wars.  _We_  think he missed a few places,” Raynor replied. He sounded almost proud. 

From the pain and tears Rumple could barely speak. He looked at the man in shining armor, his amber eyes full of anguish, and mouthed “please.” 

“Well,” the knight replied with a chuckle. “Carry on lads.” 

Raynor and Toly obeyed and Rumple’s screams echoed across the empty dirt road as the knight retreated.

 

When his eyes opened again, Rumple was on the doorstep of his hovel. Raynor and Toly had kept their promise to take him home. He tasted blood in his mouth. 

“Oh gods!” It was Alison, mother to Morraine and the only person in the village who treated him with kindness, even if it was only because she found his son delightful. 

Ali offered her hand to him. With a grunt of pain he took it and stood. Then she handed him his walking stick, which was lying on the ground next to him. For all the effort that he had spent protecting it, his sack of food was nowhere to be found. 

“Come inside,” she said. “Your boy is in bed waiting for you.” Ali took care of Bae when Rumple needed to go to the market. In return, he would do the same with Morraine. If Bae was in bed, that meant it was far past suppertime.  _Just how long was I unconscious?_

“Bae,” Rumple said quietly as he entered his hovel.

“Papa,” his son replied. He was lying on his straw pallet and wrapped in the wool blanket his father had spun for him. “What happened?” 

“A horse ran into me,” Rumple lied. He was used to lying to his son, even if the shame ate away at him from the inside. It was how he still believed that his mother was dead. “Have you had supper?” 

“When I was with Morraine,” Bae replied. 

Rumple thanked the gods. Even if he would go to bed hungry that night, at least his son would not.

“Papa,” Bae said again. “Tell me a story.”

“Alright,” Rumple began. _“Once upon a time there was a brave knight, his armor shone in the sun and he rode a large white stallion. He was as handsome as he was noble. He helped out anyone, from the wealthiest king to the most humble villager. He was named…”_  Rumple’s head still hurt and coming up with a name was difficult. 

“Sir Fairman,” Bae said. 

“Aye, he was named Sir Fairman.”

“Sir  _Shaun_ Fairman,” Bae insisted. 

“Yes my boy, Sir Shaun Fairman.  _One day Sir Shaun Fairman was riding through the woods and he saw a man by the side of the road crying. He asked:_

 _‘What ails you my good man?””_  Rumple enjoyed giving his characters voices when he told stories, and he gave Sir Shaun Fairman a rich deep baritone. 

_“The man replied: ‘The wicked lord who owns this land has kidnapped my daughter. Though she does not love him, he wanted her hand in marriage.’_

‘ _Where does he live?’ The knight asked. ‘For I will ride in and save her.’ The man looked sad and told him_  

 _“Thank you for your offer of kindness, but I would have no way of repaying you.’_   _But Sir Shaun Fairman told him that he did not care about gold or trinkets. He was a man of honor who swore to protect everyone, even…”_  Rumple swallowed, trying to keep his voice from breaking.  _“…the weak and powerless._

_So once he was told where the wicked lord lived, he rode swiftly to that manor. Then he charged through the courtyard, where the wedding was currently taking place. When the wicked lord saw what was happening, he and his men drew out their swords, but Sir Shaun Fairman was not afraid._

_‘What brings you here?’ The wicked lord said._

_‘I have come to rescue this woman from your evil clutches,’ Sir Shuan Fairman replied._

_“Never,” the wicked lord sneered. Then his men attacked. But Sir Shaun Fairman’s blade was swift and true and soon all the wicked lord’s men had been vanquished._

_‘I see you are good with a sword, when you are on a horse’ the wicked lord said. ‘I challenge you to a duel, man to man.’_

_‘I accept,’ Sir Shuan Fairman replied. Then he got off his horse. The bride-to-be watched as the two men whirled about swinging their swords clang clang clink!”_ Rumple twirled his hand around in the motion of a sword.  _But Sir Shaun Fairman was a better swordsman than the wicked lord and he disarmed him. The knight would never kill an unarmed man, so he let the wicked lord live. Instead he took the villager’s daughter by the hand and they rode away from the lord’s manor.”_

“Did they get married and live happily ever after?” Bae asked. 

“Only if she wanted him,” his Papa replied. Then he tucked his boy in and kissed him goodnight.

That night, Rumple lay in bed, thinking of knights, and lords and castles. Of a life where he had the power to make things right for everyone. A life that would never be his.  


End file.
